Reformation + Religious Wars

• Both the French Religious Wars and the Dutch Revolt were conflicts between Protestants and Catholics

  • French: 40% of the nobility converted to Protestantism; people feared that the political differences would be used to start a conflict; St. Bartholomew’s Day → decades of war → Protestants won → Henry IV became the King of France → converted to Catholicism because he feared he would not be accepted if he remained a protestant; France remained a strong, unified country; rise in religious tolerance (Edict of Nantes);

  • Dutch: caused by unrest due to Spain’s rule, religious differences; many people converted to Protestantism; Philip II brought the Spanish Inquisition to the Dutch to try to reconvert them to Catholicism; outcome was that the Netherlands split → Protestants became the Dutch Republic, southern provinces remained part of the Spanish Empire and became the Spanish Netherlands

• The Thirty-Years War: Religious war between Protestants and Catholics in Germany

  • Northern part became Protestant, the south became Catholic; the Holy Roman Empire was not a unified country; in every state, the ruler determined the religion

    • In 1555, the Peace of Augsburg established the rule that whoever rules the country controls the religion → failed → 1618-1648: war started in Bohemia (modern day Czech Republic); Hapsburg emperor tried to enforce Catholicism on the Protestants → Defenestration of Prague → Catholics won, Bohemians lost

    • French Phase, Danish Phase, Swedish Phase; Catholics won in the second phase, Protestants started wining with the help of Sweden

      • France, while being a Catholic country, sided with the Protestants because of their desire to defeat the Hapsburgs

    • War ended with the Treaty of Westphalia → renewed the Peace of Augsburg → Germany remained a divided country → France emerged as the strongest European power → the Pope no longer had power

• Christianity → split into Catholicism + Eastern Orthodox (Russia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania) in 1054

  • Catholics split into Catholics and Protestants in 1517 (Martin Luther’s 95 Theses)

    • Luther’s criticism of the Catholic Church’s abuses: sale of indulgences → Protestant Reformation (1517-1648)

  • Protestantism splits into Lutherans (Luther’s followers), Calvinists (John Calvin’s followers), Anglicans (Church of England), Anabaptists (most radical), and Presbytarians (Scotland, essentially Calvinists)

  • Protestants believe in Salvation through faith alone, rejection of the Pope’s authority, the Bible is the highest authority, abolished monastic orders (nuns and monks), priests can marry, only focus on two sacraments (baptism and holy communion, has symbolic significance) compared to the Catholics’ seven

    • Calvinists: predestination (God has already decided who will go to Heaven and who will go to Hell)

  • Catholics: faith + good works; Lutherans: faith alone

Scientific Revolution + The Enlightenment

• Only two countries that were not absolute monarchies: the Netherlands (republic) and England (constitutional monarchy)

• Jean-Baptiste Colbert implemented mercantilism under Louis XIV

• Brought on by the spread of scientific ideas (Scientific Revolution); scientific method, new discoveries in astronomy, physics, and chemistry drew attention to society’s problems; natural laws govern societies

• During the 18th century, most European countries were ruled by absolute monarchs

• Enlightenment thinkers

  • Voltaire: religious toleration, freedom of speech; the most fervent supporter of freedom of speech, and advocated for women’s rights; “crush the infamous thing” (religious bigotry/intolerance)

  • Hobbes: not technically an enlightenment thinker, but agreed with the idea of the Social Contract; the king’s power does not come from God; people form a government themselves → monarch’s power comes from the people; supported absolute monarchies because he thought that people were inherently bad and without a strong power to keep people under control, they would revolt

  • Locke: people have the right to revolt if the government fails to support + protect their natural rights; “life, liberty, and property”; believed that people are inherently rational, and can compromise and make peace while making rational decisions; believed in a constitutional form of government

  • Montesquieu: separation of powers, checks and balances; Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches; reflected in the American Constitution

  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau: direct democracy; people should rule themselves, everyone in the community should have a voice; was very anti-feminist, believed that women’s only roles were to remain housewives and tend to children and their husbands; emotions and feelings are very important, and should be reflected in children’s education; paved the way for Romanticism; The Social Contract

  • Diderot: L’Encyclopedie; published all things that were known about science; spread the ideas of the Enlightenment

  • Mary Wollstonecraft: a women's rights activist, authored A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1792, a classic of rationalist feminism that is considered the earliest and most important treatise advocating equality for women.

• Did the Enlightenment thinkers believe in God?

  • They were all deists; believed that God created the universe, but thought that He would not intervene in humans’ lives (ex. no miracles)

• Enlightened Despots

  • Catherine the Great, Joseph II, Frederick the Great; partitioned Poland (Three partitions of Poland)

  • Did not share power, ruled fully by themselves, but did not claim the divine right; believed they had obligations toward their people to govern them in their best interests; king is the first servant of the state

  • Catherine was the least enlightened, Frederick was in between, Joseph II was the most enlightened; created legal codes that applied to everyone, religious tolerance, promoted education

French Revolution

• Liberal or Moderate Phase (1789-1791) → Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizens issued by the National Assembly

  • Redefined relationship between the king and subjects

• Radical Phase: all newly granted freedoms were put aside → only the rich got the right to vote; people who did not pay taxes/were poor were excluded from voting rights

• The Reign of Terror: no freedom of speech, no freedom of religion

• The Directory: five years when the Reign of Terror ended; five men ruled France, were very corrupt → unstable government; their rule ended with Napoleon’s rise to power

• The Napoleonic Code (1804)

  • All land sales of Church property undisturbed

  • Kept principle of equality before the law intact (freedom of speech + religion)

  • Feudal privileges abolished

  • Further centralized the government → divided into departments

  • Law was the same throughout the country, regardless of social status

• Napoleon was able to tax people based on their income

• Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité

• Revolution failed → there was still a large difference between social classes

• Napoleon unsuccessfully built up his army

ISMS, Revolutions, Nationalism

• Metternich: wanted to stop revolutionary movements, wanted to preserve conservative policies; Congress of Vienna → restored previous monarchs to the throne; wanted to stop France from dominating Europe

  • The Congress of Vienna kept European peace almost until WWI → achieved its goal in preserving the balance of power

• Bismarck’s most important goal was the unification of Germany under Prussian leadership

• In the Austrian empire, nationalism eventually led to the formation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire aka the Dual Monarchy

  • 1848 Revolutions: Czechs and Hungarians revolted